AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll fix you something up.” She rolls her eyes as she stands up from her desk and disappears out the back. She returns not long after with a pair of jeans, a black T-shirt and some flats.
“That do ya?” she asks, handing them over.
“That’ll do just fine.” I thank them both, then make my way back to room number six.
“It’s me.” I knock on the door, and wait. Gracie opens it cautiously. She’s still only wearing that damn towel to cover herself and she heads straight for the bed as soon as she’s let me inside. I place the clothes on the mattress and walk straight into the bathroom. Stripping out of my jeans, turning on the water and washing all the blood off my body.
The water’s freezing but I stay under it for as long as I can stand, knowing that my blood will start burning again the moment I step back into the same room as her. I focus on the chill of the water, rather than the fact I want to kill those men all over again for coming so close to hurting her.
I shouldn’t give a shit. I shouldn’t want to protect her. And I sure as fucking hell shouldn’t be intending on taking her to the place that I am tomorrow.
When I get out of the shower, I tuck a towel around my waist then take a long breath before opening the door. Gracie’s lying on her side facing the door, her thick hair naturally dried into loose curls that are draping over the pillow. The clothes I’ve given her are on the nightstand now and she’s wearing another one of my shirts, one she must have helped herself to while I was in the shower. It’s loose and baggy on her but shows off too much of her legs not to be tempting.
Duke is laid out contently on the bottom of the bed, he lifts his head but as soon as he realizes it’s only me, drops it back down again.
I pull a pair of sweatpants out of my duffel bag, pulling them up under the towel around my waist. Then I hang the towel over the bathroom door, grab a spare pillow off the bed and settle on the floor in front of the door that leads outside.
“What are you doing?” Gracie asks, pulling herself up into a sitting position.
“I’m getting some sleep, you should too, we got an early start tomorrow.” I turn my back to her and punch the pillow into shape, before bedding down for the night.
“Brax, I can’t let you sleep on the floor.”
“I’ve slept worse places,” I tell her, closing my eyes, and hoping she’ll shut up and go to sleep.
“Please, Brax,” she begs, but I ignore her. I have to.
“Brax,” she raises her voice, and I can’t help but smile to myself when I imagine that look she gets on her face when she’s frustrated. “Brax, I don’t want to—”
“Jesus,” I interrupt her before she starts pleading. “If I get into the damn bed, will it shut you up?” I snap, sitting up and finally giving her my attention.
“Yes.” The victorious smile is already on her face and I want to wipe it right off with my tongue.
“Fine.” Snatching up the pillow, I storm toward the bed and throw it beside hers, then pull open the covers to settle under them.
“Happy now?” I ask, turning my back to her and attempting to get some sleep.
I’ve barely closed my eyes when I hear her soft little snuffles and sobs, and I try real hard to ignore them, but they go on and on until eventually I let out a frustrated breath and turn around.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, sounding every bit as irritated as I’m feeling. She turns herself around to face me, her eyes looking so fucking pretty magnified with tears. Tears that I feel the strongest urge to wipe away.
Luckily, I still have enough control over myself not to.
“I was really scared, Brax,” she admits, erupting into more sobs that I have no idea how to handle.
“You’re okay now,” I tell her, trying to remember a time when I’ve ever had to comfort someone before. This ain’t something I have experience in.
“I…I thought they were gonna ki…kill me,” she stutters, and fuck, seeing her cry like this bruises me on the inside.
“I wouldn’t have let that happen,” I tell her, meaning every fucking word. And not just because Prez told me to keep her in one piece either.
She shuffles a little closer, the tip of her nose almost touching mine.
“Could you just…” she quickly silences herself, her eyes widening as they look down between us.
“It’ll go away in a minute,” I assure her, internally cringing. There ain’t no way to hide how fucking hard she’s making me in the small space she’s left between us.
Her lips curl into a smile that shouldn’t be meant for me, but knowing that it is does nothing to help the situation under the sheets.
